"If fighting is sure to result in victory, then you must fight! Sun Tzu said that, and I'd say he knows a little bit more about fighting than you do, pal, because he invented it, and then he perfected it so that no living man could best him in the ring of honor. Then, he used his fight money to buy two of every animal on earth, and then he herded them onto a boat, and then he beat the crap out of every single one. And from that day forward any time a bunch of animals are together in one place it's called a zoo! (Beat) Unless it's a farm!"
--Soldier, TF2

The Democratic National Committee adopted a new rule Friday aimed at preventing non-Democrats, such as independent U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, from seeking the party’s 2020 presidential nomination, reports said.

The rule change, adopted at a DNC meeting in Providence, R.I., requires all candidates for the party’s nomination to “run and serve” as Democrats, Yahoo News reported.

Some supporters of Sanders -- who caucuses with the Democrats despite declining to declare a party affiliation -- say the move was motivated by “spite” after Sanders gave Hillary Clinton a run for her money during the Democratic primaries in 2016.
...
“We just came off a devastating presidential loss in 2016,” Mark Longabaugh, a senior adviser to Sanders’ 2016 campaign, told Yahoo News. “It would seem to me the actual impetus would be to expand the Democratic Party. I, just for the life of me, don’t see any motivation for this beyond personal spite.”

So if this goes through, expect another lame-stream candidate to win for the DNC...nomination.

Rob Lister wrote:That would be a big spoiler. That's a Nader-level spoiler in a closer election; a Perot-level spoiler is what the Dems need.

Bernie running as an independent is the last thing the Dems need. That's at least Perot-level. Trump will win 500+ electoral votes if that happens.

The funniest part will be the blue states who passed laws requiring their electors to vote for the popular vote winner will then have to cast their electoral votes for Trump!

Minor note--those laws do not take effect unless enough states pass them that the total of their electoral votes constitutes a majority. Until then it's business as usual, and afterwards it's a very different game entirely.

Though I agree that Bernie running as an independent will have substantially the effect you describe.

"If fighting is sure to result in victory, then you must fight! Sun Tzu said that, and I'd say he knows a little bit more about fighting than you do, pal, because he invented it, and then he perfected it so that no living man could best him in the ring of honor. Then, he used his fight money to buy two of every animal on earth, and then he herded them onto a boat, and then he beat the crap out of every single one. And from that day forward any time a bunch of animals are together in one place it's called a zoo! (Beat) Unless it's a farm!"
--Soldier, TF2

Democratic presidential hopefuls embraced their party’s left flank during a presidential cattle call in the nation’s capital on Wednesday.

More than a thousand energetic attendees gathered at the We the People Summit to hear from some top potential 2020 contenders: Sens. Cory Booker (D-N.J.), Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) and Kamala Harris (D-Calif.). But it was Sanders who won the most applause from the crowd of progressive and labor activists.

All of the possible 2020 candidates struck a liberal message, touting the need for universal health care as well as protecting and expanding Social Security and Medicare. But the lawmakers also made calculated decisions about what issues to emphasize as they look to build up their support among the party’s activist base.

If I had to pick from among those 5, I think it'd be Booker. There may be others in the running, but this seems to be an early indication.

The energy in the room was palpable throughout the entirety of Sanders’s speech. He received multiple standing ovations, and “Bernie!” cheers broke out when he walked on and off the stage.

Sanders, 76, spent much of address telling attendees about how his 2016 presidential campaign changed the conversation within the Democratic Party. Sanders, who lost in the primary to Hillary Clinton, secured a number of his initiatives in the Democratic Party’s convention platform.

Sanders would be 78 in 2020, and 79 by election day. He's almost 5 years older than Trump. People might not hold that against him though. Fwiw, Warren is 68, Harris 54, Gillibrand 51 and Booker 47.

A fool thinks himself to be wise, but a wise man knows himself to be a fool.
William Shakespeare

Mob of the Mean: Free beanie, cattle-prod and Charley Fan Club! "Doctor X is just treating you the way he treats everyone--as subhuman crap too dumb to breathe in after you breathe out."--DonDocX: FTW.--sparks
"Doctor X wins again."--Pyrrho
"Never sorry to make a racist Fucktard cry."--His Humble MagNIfIcence
"It was the criticisms of Doc X, actually, that let me see more clearly how far the hypocrisy had gone."--clarsct
"I'd leave it up to Doctor X who has been a benevolent tyrant so far."--Grammatron
"Indeed you are a river to your people.
Shit. That's going to end up in your sig."--Pyrrho
"Try a twelve step program and accept Doctor X as your High Power."--asthmatic camel
"just like Doc X said." --gnomeWS CHAMPIONS X3!!! NBA CHAMPIONS!!Stanley Cup!SB CHAMPIONS X5!!!!!35

Well, as I think someone else pointed out to me in the past, they are all rich. Some more than others. I guess Harry Truman was of relatively modest means. For a president. But Harry sort of got in the back door, by happening to be Vice President when the rich guy president died.

A fool thinks himself to be wise, but a wise man knows himself to be a fool.
William Shakespeare

Better, the previous VP who joined the ticket thinking FDR would only last one or two terms gave up after he won his fourth.

His comment on the Vice Presidency is often bowdlerized to Protect the Innocents:

Not worth a warm bucket of piss.

--John Nance Garner

--J.D.

Mob of the Mean: Free beanie, cattle-prod and Charley Fan Club! "Doctor X is just treating you the way he treats everyone--as subhuman crap too dumb to breathe in after you breathe out."--DonDocX: FTW.--sparks
"Doctor X wins again."--Pyrrho
"Never sorry to make a racist Fucktard cry."--His Humble MagNIfIcence
"It was the criticisms of Doc X, actually, that let me see more clearly how far the hypocrisy had gone."--clarsct
"I'd leave it up to Doctor X who has been a benevolent tyrant so far."--Grammatron
"Indeed you are a river to your people.
Shit. That's going to end up in your sig."--Pyrrho
"Try a twelve step program and accept Doctor X as your High Power."--asthmatic camel
"just like Doc X said." --gnomeWS CHAMPIONS X3!!! NBA CHAMPIONS!!Stanley Cup!SB CHAMPIONS X5!!!!!35

Anaxagoras wrote:Sanders would be 78 in 2020, and 79 by election day. He's almost 5 years older than Trump. People might not hold that against him though. Fwiw, Warren is 68, Harris 54, Gillibrand 51 and Booker 47.

Sanders will run as an independent in 2020 as a big "Fuck you" to the DNC for screwing him over in 2016.

Last edited by gnome on Sun Jun 17, 2018 4:49 am, edited 1 time in total.

"If fighting is sure to result in victory, then you must fight! Sun Tzu said that, and I'd say he knows a little bit more about fighting than you do, pal, because he invented it, and then he perfected it so that no living man could best him in the ring of honor. Then, he used his fight money to buy two of every animal on earth, and then he herded them onto a boat, and then he beat the crap out of every single one. And from that day forward any time a bunch of animals are together in one place it's called a zoo! (Beat) Unless it's a farm!"
--Soldier, TF2

I don't think it's so likely. Even after it had happened he was still urging people to vote Democrat in the general. I don't see why he'd want to do something different now.

"If fighting is sure to result in victory, then you must fight! Sun Tzu said that, and I'd say he knows a little bit more about fighting than you do, pal, because he invented it, and then he perfected it so that no living man could best him in the ring of honor. Then, he used his fight money to buy two of every animal on earth, and then he herded them onto a boat, and then he beat the crap out of every single one. And from that day forward any time a bunch of animals are together in one place it's called a zoo! (Beat) Unless it's a farm!"
--Soldier, TF2

A high school acquaintance that actually works for the DNC now told me his opinion, that Bernie was invited into the primary contest to show Clinton as a centrist in contrast--i.e., to make her look better.

That clearly backfired. Is Dennis Kuchinichchchch no longer filling that role?

I have no idea whether his opinion comes from specific inside information or is his own speculation, so I won't presume.

"If fighting is sure to result in victory, then you must fight! Sun Tzu said that, and I'd say he knows a little bit more about fighting than you do, pal, because he invented it, and then he perfected it so that no living man could best him in the ring of honor. Then, he used his fight money to buy two of every animal on earth, and then he herded them onto a boat, and then he beat the crap out of every single one. And from that day forward any time a bunch of animals are together in one place it's called a zoo! (Beat) Unless it's a farm!"
--Soldier, TF2